Josh Watts appointed GM of the Abbey hotel

Josh Watts has been appointed general manager of the four-AA-star Abbey hotel in Bath following the departure of Andrew Foulkes.

Watts joins the 62-bedroom property from the Mercure Bristol Grand hotel where he was general manager. His previous roles include cluster general manager of Jupiter Hotels' Mercure Grange Bristol and Mercure Elcot Park in Newbury; general manager of Homewood Park hotel in Bath; and deputy general manager at Hotel du Vin Bristol.

He said: "I look forward to heading up exciting projects under KE Hotels' ownership and working to ensure that the hotel goes from strength to strength."

Foulkes left the hotel last month to take up his new role as hotel general manager of Emily Estate and Hadspen House in Somerset, which is currently under development.

Ian and Christa Taylor sold the hotel earlier this year to KE Hotels, having acquired it in 2012 for £5.5m from Compass Hotels and undertaking an extensive repositioning of the business, taking it from three AA stars to four AA stars and increasing turnover from £1.8m to £4.4m.

Anil Khanna, managing director of KE Hotels said: "We are thrilled to welcome Josh on board during this exciting phase for the Abbey hotel. He brings experience, flair and enthusiasm to the team and will be pivotal in realising our potential within the marketplace."

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